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yabai VS Ananicy Cpp

Compare yabai VS Ananicy Cpp and see what are their differences

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Contents:
  1. ยป Base Details
  2. ยป Videos
  3. ยป Reviews
  4. ยป Alternatives

yabai logo yabai

A tiling window manager for macOS based on binary space partitioning

Ananicy Cpp logo Ananicy Cpp

Ananicy rewritten in C++ for much lower CPU and memory usage.
  • yabai Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-26
  • Ananicy Cpp Landing page
    Landing page //
    2025-12-29

yabai features and specs

  • Efficient Window Management
    Yabai provides advanced tiling window management for macOS, greatly increasing productivity by allowing users to manage windows through keyboard shortcuts and layouts, minimizing the need for mouse interactions.
  • Highly Customizable
    The software offers extensive configuration options, enabling users to personalize their window management experience according to their specific workflow and preferences.
  • Open Source
    Being open source, Yabai is free to use and modify, allowing the community to contribute to its development and enhancement. This fosters a collaborative environment for improving the software.
  • Supports Scripting
    Yabai supports scripting through AppleScript or shell commands, enabling users to automate complex workflows and integrate Yabai with other tools and applications seamlessly.
  • Lightweight
    Yabai is designed to be a lightweight window manager, which means it consumes minimal system resources, ensuring that your Mac continues to run smoothly even with numerous active windows.

Possible disadvantages of yabai

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For beginners, the configuration and use of Yabai can be daunting, requiring a significant amount of time and effort to fully understand and utilize its capabilities effectively.
  • Requires SIP Disablement
    To utilize some of Yabai's more advanced features, users need to partially disable System Integrity Protection (SIP), which can reduce the overall security of the macOS system.
  • Potential Compatibility Issues
    As macOS updates and changes, compatibility issues may arise, potentially breaking functionality. Users may need to wait for updates from the developer community to resolve these issues.
  • Limited Official Support
    As an open-source project, Yabai does not come with official support channels. Users must rely on community forums and documentation, which may not always provide immediate or comprehensive assistance.
  • Complex Configurations
    Setting up Yabai to fit specific needs can be complex and time-consuming, especially for users who are not familiar with scripting or advanced configuration files.

Ananicy Cpp features and specs

  • Automatic NICENESS
    Ananicy Cpp automatically adjusts the niceness of processes, which optimizes their CPU usage according to the priority level that it determines best for system performance.
  • Improved System Responsiveness
    By prioritizing critical tasks and deprioritizing less important ones, Ananicy Cpp can help in maintaining a more responsive system.
  • Customizable Rules
    Users can define custom rules for different applications to control their scheduling behavior, providing a high degree of customization for performance tuning.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, it's freely available for anyone to use, modify, and contribute to, which fosters a community-driven approach to development.

Possible disadvantages of Ananicy Cpp

  • Complex Configuration
    Setting up and configuring Ananicy Cpp may be complex for users who are not familiar with system-level process management.
  • Limited Use Case
    Ananicy Cpp may not significantly benefit users on systems with ample resources and low load, as the niceness adjustments are more impactful in resource-constrained environments.
  • Potential Compatibility Issues
    There could be compatibility issues or unexpected behavior with certain software that may not respond ideally to changes in process priority.
  • Limited Documentation
    The documentation available might not be comprehensive enough for new users to easily understand and effectively use Ananicy Cpp to its fullest potential.

Analysis of yabai

Overall verdict

  • Yabai is highly regarded among users who seek advanced customization and control over their macOS window management. However, it may have a steep learning curve for those unfamiliar with tiling window managers or command-line tools.

Why this product is good

  • Yabai is a popular tiling window manager for macOS, designed to streamline and enhance window management through robust keyboard shortcuts and automation features. It is particularly appreciated for its flexibility and efficiency in organizing a large number of open applications, contributing to a more productive workflow.

Recommended for

  • Developers who need efficient multitasking tools.
  • Users comfortable with the command line who enjoy customizing their environment.
  • Power users looking to optimize their macOS user experience.

Analysis of Ananicy Cpp

Overall verdict

  • Ananicy Cpp is a solid, lightweight auto-nice daemon that improves system responsiveness by automatically managing process priorities, and it's a well-optimized C++ rewrite of the original Ananicy with better performance and lower resource usage.

Why this product is good

  • It's a C++ reimplementation of the original Python-based Ananicy, offering significantly lower CPU and memory overhead
  • Automatically adjusts process nice levels, ionice, scheduling policies, and cgroups to improve system responsiveness under load
  • Uses configurable rules, making it flexible and easy to tune for specific workloads
  • Open source and actively maintained, with community-contributed rule sets available
  • Helps keep desktop environments smooth even during heavy background tasks like compiling or file indexing

Recommended for

  • Linux desktop users who want better system responsiveness under heavy load
  • Power users and enthusiasts comfortable configuring daemons and rules
  • Gamers or creators running demanding foreground applications alongside background processes
  • Users of resource-constrained systems who need a lightweight alternative to the original Ananicy
  • People running distributions like Arch, CachyOS, or other performance-focused setups

yabai videos

+ Add

Yabai Demonstration

More videos:

  • Demo - yabai macOS Tiling Window Manager Demonstration

Ananicy Cpp videos

No Ananicy Cpp videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to yabai and Ananicy Cpp)

yabai

Ananicy Cpp

Window Manager
100 100%
Window Manager
0% 0
Command Line Tools
0 0%
Command Line Tools
100% 100
Mac Tools
100 100%
Mac Tools
0% 0
Monitoring Tools
0 0%
Monitoring Tools
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, yabai seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 138 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

yabai mentions (138)

  • Supercharge your macOS workspace management with Aerospace - A guide for busy people
    Aerospace does not rely on the native spaces feature. Instead, it has the concept of virtual workspaces, all of which live in a single native macOS space. Switching between these virtual workspaces essentially means hiding all other windows and only keeping the window(s) assigned to the active workspace. This is genius, as it makes Aerospace incredibly flexible in managing windows between workspaces, without the... - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Jeff Geerling: The Framework 12 is dead. Apple killed it [video]
    Interesting. I used to daily drive for almost a year until a major macOS update broke it and I just didn't have it in me to diagnose the issue. I'll bookmark this for future adventures, thanks! - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Show HN: Liquid Radius โ€“ Unifies macOS Tahoe's inconsistent window corners
    > Liquid Radius doesn't touch /System or modify the SSV I'm not doubting you, but by requiring users to disable SIP you are effectively opening their entire system to SSV attacks. 99% of "regular" users won't understand that tradeoff. Rounded corners are not worth disabling the operating system's major security protections, especially in today's crazy cyber environment. Yabai [0] is a good example of how... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • From M1 MacBook to Arch Linux: A month-long experiment that became permanenent
    This. My 2013 MacBook Pro lasted just shy of 10 years no issues. My m3 max mbpro I only wish was the larger screen one and not the 13 inch one โ€ฆ oh well. But I suspect it will last me โ€” and be passed down as well โ€” 8-10 years as well. The trackpads are second to none. So are the speakers. The screen are pretty good. I wish mine got even brighter but the m4s do. The keyboard is finally awesome. The OS just works.... - Source: Hacker News / 12 months ago
  • I Used Arch, BTW: macOS, Day 1
    Aerospace is nice, but also consider checking out yabai [0] + sketchybar [1] for an i3/hyprland style tiling setup. More customizable (IMO) and perfectly suited for a terminal based workflow :~^) [0] https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
View more

Ananicy Cpp mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Ananicy Cpp yet. Tracking of Ananicy Cpp recommendations started around Dec 2025.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing yabai and Ananicy Cpp, you can also consider the following products

Rectangle - Window management app based on Spectacle, written in Swift.

Ananicy - Ananicy - is Another auto nice daemon, with community rules support (Use pull request please)

Moom - Move your mouse over the green zoom button in any window, and Moom's mouse control overlay will appear (as seen in the above animation).

htop - htop - an interactive process viewer for Unix. This is htop, an interactive process viewer for Unix systems. It is a text-mode application (for console or X terminals) and requires ncurses. Latest release: htop 2.

BTT Remote - A remote control for you Mac, using your iPhone or iPad

Process Lasso - Process Lasso is NOT yet another task manager.

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